Richie strode into the forest, mowing through the undergrowth. As I stumbled after him, my feet caught on vines and in brush.
“Richie! Wait!”
He stepped into a thicket of trees…and that white beacon vanished.
I ran as fast as I could, staggering and tripping and grabbing trees for balance. I made it to the thicket, charged past the trees and…
Nothing.
I spun, squinting into the darkness.
There was no sign of Richie’s white sheet.
I shouted his name and heard only my own voice echoing back. The forest had gone silent.
Absolutely silent. Eerily silent.
Then a twig snapped, and I spun.
“Richie?”
Nothing.
Dead leaves crackled, just to my left, and I stumbled back.
“Richie?” My voice wavered as a chill crept up my spine.
Then, through the trees, I saw a shape. But it wasn’t a little boy wearing a sheet. It was a dark shape, bigger than me.
At first, that was all I could see—a large, dark shape. Then eyes. Glowing red eyes.
A mouth opened. Teeth flashed. A growl rippled through the night. And I ran.
I found a path. Fate favored me with that. Somehow I found a path, and it let me run full out.
I ran as fast as I could, ran until my lungs burned and my calves screamed, and the whole time, I could hear that creature right on my heels. Hear the pounding of its feet, the huffing of its breath, the growls when it lunged and missed me.
The forest wasn’t more than five acres. This path had to lead out—they all did. There was a maze of trails in here, for hiking and dog walking, but they all linked up, and they all led out. Yet I saw no other branches to take. And I saw no end to this trail. No glow of houses through the trees. No landmarks I recognized.
That wasn’t possible. I’d spent the last two Halloween nights in this forest. I knew every stump. Every dilapidated fortress. Every shoe hung over a branch. But nothing here was familiar. Nothing showed me the way out.
He lost his way.
It happens, now and then, in the forest.
I finally understoodhowit happened. How kids who knew better ended up in the woods on Halloween. They chased another child, someone like Richie. They chased him into the forest and then something happened, and suddenly, they weren’t in our forest anymore. And it wasn’t a lost child they were chasing—it was a monster, and there was no way out. No way but lost.
I left the path. It was the only thing I could think of.
A path is supposed to help you find your way. Keep you from getting lost. But this one wasn’t. It wasgettingme lost.Keepingme lost. So I left it.
I veered off the trail and into the forest. I dodged bushes and leaped over trees, and I ignored the thing behind me. I focused on running. Nothing but running.
And then I saw it. A light. Just up ahead.
Even as I ran for the light, I expected a trick. That I would never be able to reach it. That Iwouldreach it…and run right into another monster. It was my only chance, though, so I hunkered down, and I ran as fast as I could and?—
I burst from the forest so fast that I slid across the damp grass and fell flat on my face. I flipped over, ready to fight offwhatever had been chasing me. But there was nothing there. Just me, lying on the grass, in someone’s backyard.
